Spacehawk
Spacehawk is a public domain character, originally created by Basil Wolverton. The Universe D version is an updated character that continues the thread started by Wolverton. Golden Age/Wolverton Origin Spacehawk had but one mission in life — to protect the innocent throughout the Solar System and give out the occasional gruesome fate to vanquished evildoers such as aliens and space pirates like his childhood friend Galar. He lived in an unspecified future where space travel was commonplace. He was sometimes assisted in his war against evil by Captain Dakk, a police officer and friend of Spacehawk. Like Blue Bolt and Green Sorceress, Spacehawk had a bit of romantic tension with the beautiful but evil Queen Haba of Neptune who had been convinced by Captain of the Guard Smebar to try to invade and conquer her peaceful neighbors, which was a commentary on currents events of the time when Germany had just invaded the Soviet Union. In Target Comics Vol. 2 #1, Queen Haba and Spacehawk were reunited when the malevolent Neptunian scientist Droon used the queen's feeling to manipulate her. Droon promises that he could get Spacehawk to confess his feelings for Queen Haba in exchange for the valley of Ojah. Droon attempts to hypnotize Spacehawk, but the hero merely plays along to learn Droon's plans. Spacehawk and Droon fight but Droon's assistant Jod ends up sending the villain plummeting off a cliff. Spacehawk tells Haba that he received orders from Uncle Sam to protect the Earth from alien invasions. But the comic adventurer reassured the queen that he would return to see her soon. The next issue, Spacehawk arrived on Earth in the 1940s, centuries before his time. He also fought a few Hitler proxies until the United States entered World War II and he took on Hitler himself. Universe D History Spacehawk was from an alien humanoid planet and came to our world to protect us from alien threats. He helped in the Allies war effort among other heroes of the day, but shortly after the Atomic Bomb was dropped, he disappeared into the heavens. As more atomic (and then nuclear) weapons were tested, Spacehawk found that the Earth itself was poisoned. He could no longer touch the ground for fear of dying (his alien physiology was susceptible to such radiation). He has returned, but as long as the Earth continues to destroy itself, he may never come back fully. He hovers and flies everywhere on Earth, and even has an Earthbound wife (Ladyhawke), but if he ever sets foot on the ground, his body will begin to deteriorate at a rapid rate. Powers and Abilities Wolverton's Spacehawk was a skilled pilot, surgeon, master of disguise, and scientist. This Spacehawk was also immune to mind control or hypnoses. He possessed a futuristic rocket capable of deep space travel, a ray gun, and also robotic duplicates of himself that could be sent as substitutes on missions. The Universe D Spacehawk has gravity manipulation powers, which enable him to fly, but also, he can affect the gravity and mass of objects as well (making an object lighter as he lifts it, or increasing his own mass as he punches, putting power behind his strikes). Golden Age Appearances * Target Comics v1 #5-12, v2 #1-12, v3 #1-10 * Blue Bolt Comics (1940) #v1#3 * Blue Bolt Comics (1949 series) #106-110(re-print) * Blue Bolt Weird Tales of Terror #113 * Eerie Tales #15 Notes * According to the letter pages, the time period change was done to make Spacehawk more relevant and less "fantastic." But ultimately, that didn't stop Novelty Press from canceling his feature. As the editor explained in the letter pages, Spacehawk was still too fantastic for the readers' tastes. *Per his open letter to the comics industry dated November 30, 2010, Delsante has entered Spacehawk into the Creative Commons. See Also Public Domain Superheroes International Hero Toonopedia Golden Age Comicbook Stories Blog Golden Age Heroes Directory Site Devoted to Spacehawk